ApolloHoax.net
Apollo Discussions => The Reality of Apollo => Topic started by: sts60 on July 16, 2014, 10:21:10 PM
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At KSC for work, so a few assorted images for your amusement.
First, the rocket garden at the visitor complex.
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Next, the Mercury-Redstone at the badging office.
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Launch Complex 39 is being extensively revamped. Pad 39A is being leased by SpaceX for future heavy-lift launches. Pad 39B is being reworked for SLS. This is what it looks like without the gantry and Mobile Launch Platform (both also being revamped). Two of the lightning towers flank the pad, and the water deluge tank is visible on the right as well.
(http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g260/sts060/KSC%20-%20Cape/39b_approach_s.jpg)
A closer look at one of the lightning towers. For scale, the roughly triangular feature about midway up is a catwalk.
(http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g260/sts060/KSC%20-%20Cape/39b_lightning_tower_s.jpg)
Looking across the flame trench at the piping for the water deluge system. Compare the Porta-Potty in the lower left to the piping for scale.
(http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g260/sts060/KSC%20-%20Cape/39b_deluge_system_piping_s.jpg)
Looking across the flame trench the other direction, towards Pad 39A (still sporting Shuttle configuration with gantry and Rotating Service Structure). In the distance, on the Cape side from left to right, are visible Space Launch Complexes 41 (Atlas V), 40 (Falcon), and 37 (Delta IV). The pillar marked '3' is one of the hold-down posts that the Mobile Launch Platform rests on.
(http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g260/sts060/KSC%20-%20Cape/39b_flame_trench_to_39a_41_40.jpg)
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Rockets need oxidizer. Here's 900,000 gallons. It's 105 steps up, which is kind of a drag in Florida in mid-July, but there's a nice breeze going up top.
(http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g260/sts060/KSC%20-%20Cape/900kgal_lox_tank_overview_s.jpg)
The Saturn V took a lot of filling. Here are the pumps that delivered the LOX to it, at 10,000 gallons per minute. (That's about 5 fire pumpers running flat out.) They were only used for S5 launches.
(http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g260/sts060/KSC%20-%20Cape/10kgpm_lox_pumps_apollo_s.jpg)
And here's the piping for the LO2 to get to the pad. On the right is the higher-capacity piping used for the Saturn V. On the left is the piping used for Shuttle (and to be used for SLS as well), driven by different pumps. The image is deceptive; it's a long run to the pad.
(http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g260/sts060/KSC%20-%20Cape/lox_piping_to_39b_s.jpg)
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The immense tank of LOX with emblazoned in bold, massive letters ' NO SMOKING' cracks me up for some reason. But, yes, very much eye candy. ;D
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Cool. The complex 39 pads being bare is weird after 30 years of the Space Shuttle, but it is like it was back in the Apollo days.
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Nice pictures. And a good idea to have some human-sized objects in view too. Those structures are so huge, a picture really can't convey the feeling. Hope I someday get the time and money to go visit.
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I should know this, but which way is north? The LOX pipeline photo would be a good reference. I'm curious because, in the book (I forgot the title), documenting the construction of the Saturn and launch complex, there was a reference to the importance of surveying true north accurately.
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The Crawlerway and access road in the first picture run due North up towards the pad, and the flame trench also runs N-S. The LOX ball is northwest of the pad, so in the last picture you're looking southeast along the pipelines. Looking at satellite/aerial view from Google Maps, you can read the LIQUID OXYGEN legend on the ball - at least with the image used as of the time I'm posting. (The tank to the NE is the LH2 ball.)
You can also pan over to the visitor complex to the SSW, past the KSC Industrial Complex, and see the aerial view of the Rocket Garden and ET/SRB display outside the building housing Atlantis. Fun.
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The book was Moonport, BTW. Fascinating read.
Thanks!
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Nice work...more than a few of us here would love to join you there...been there a few times, a real Disneyland for space nuts...
Is that one MLP with the big prototype umbilical tower still intact? It was something they rolled out to a pad as part of the Constellation activity.
(eta...one rocket I'd love to see is the old Viking, the Model 7 one with the big fins...but, alas, none were preserved, only one of the later models at the Smithsonian, those rockets had an amazing story behind them)
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I have a pretty good picture of the MLP/umbilical tower, currently being modified for SLS. Also some more from some launch complexes on the Cape side, etc. I'll post more when I have a chance.
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Here's the obligatory "scale" picture of the VAB, with some guys just stepping out...
(http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g260/sts060/KSC%20-%20Cape/vab_ext_scale.jpg)
I may have posted this before. This was from over 20 years ago, with Columbia being prepared for lifting and rotation prior to stacking.
(http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g260/sts060/KSC%20-%20Cape/columbia_vab_12_aug_93.jpg)
I saw her on this trip, too, again in the VAB. The remnants of the vehicle are carefully maintained and still being used for research. Thousands of workers and volunteers endured often miserable conditions searching across Texas to bring her home.
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Nice work...more than a few of us here would love to join you there...been there a few times, a real Disneyland for space nuts...
Is that one MLP with the big prototype umbilical tower still intact? It was something they rolled out to a pad as part of the Constellation activity...
Here ya go. Sparks were flying from underneath as crews were cutting metal in the platform to accommodate the SLS rocket exhausts.
(http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g260/sts060/KSC%20-%20Cape/mlp_tower.jpg)
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Rollout of the MLCV/Orion vehicle for Exploration Flight Test-1 in December. The vehicle is leaving the Operations & Checkout Building for the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, where it will be fueled.
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Thanks for the pictures.
I went on a tour there last winter. They said the tour was going to discontinue visits to the VAB, so I got there just in time. The Apollo/Saturn V museum was great. I must have spent the better part of an hour just gawking at that Saturn V and taking pictures of it. I just kept thinking, "What audacity! What brilliance!"
I got to see a launch, too.
Hopefully I'll be able to go back this winter.
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Here's the obligatory "scale" picture of the VAB, with some guys just stepping out...
(http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g260/sts060/KSC%20-%20Cape/vab_ext_scale.jpg)
I'm a bit late in responding to this but...I visited KSC as a teen in '76 and what really drove the scale home for me, was seeing very small humans at work, painting the bicentennial emblem on the VAB. Saying that they were dwarfed by it just doesn't cover it.
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I got to see a launch, too.
Which one?
Seeing a launch can be a real hit-or-miss affair, with very short launch windows for many missions and lots of scrubs. You often have to be willing to wait around a while.
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I got to see a launch, too.
Which one?
Seeing a launch can be a real hit-or-miss affair, with very short launch windows for many missions and lots of scrubs. You often have to be willing to wait around a while.
It was an Atlas 5 with the TDRS-L relay satellite. Jan. 23, 2014. This wasn't part of the regular day tour that I went on. It was a night launch. Still, maybe a couple thousand people were there in the grandstands.
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It was an Atlas 5 with the TDRS-L relay satellite. Jan. 23, 2014. This wasn't part of the regular day tour that I went on. It was a night launch. Still, maybe a couple thousand people were there in the grandstands.
I was lucky enough to see a launch in 1985, this is where AwE has his little NASA VIP jibes at me. As a partner in Intelsat, BT (who I worked for) were given two invitations to the Cape, to see an Intelsat launch. I was lucky enough to get one, this was all paid for by Intelsat. When we got to the cape we were given a VIP tour. When I spoke about this on a thread, Adrian's said, "Well, what vetting procedure was used by NASA to access high security payloads for shuttle launches?" What?
1:- I had no access to the payload and it was an Atlas launch not a shuttle
2:- NASA were Intelsats "PAID," contractor to launch OUR payload.
3:- You could PAY for a VIP tour at the time, I don't know if that is still the case.
I can always tell when I am getting under Adrian's skin in an argument, he starts referring to me as MR NASA VIP! He does it without fail. :D :D
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I've see two launches from the Cape, both shuttles. One was STS-9, which I saw from the press site, and the other designation I don't remember. I had been in Tampa FL for a conference, and I knew that a shuttle launch was scheduled just after my plane left for Chicago, but given how shuttle launches are often scrubbed I didn't really expect to see anything. Or if I did I'd be too far away to see much.
But I got a window on the right side of the plane anyway and watched. And right on cue, there it was rising above the clouds. It looked a lot closer than it really was. I soon had the entire plane looking out the right side.
(This reminds me of an old EE joke, but it's too esoteric for this forum.)
Living in San Diego I've seen quite a few launches from Vandenberg AFB, as the usual sun-synchronous launch trajectory takes them right down the coast past us. I don't usually see much on a mid-day launch, but at night I will typically pick up a Delta II as its ground-lit solids are burning out, so unless it also carries air-lit solids I may have trouble spotting it. Staging occurs just as it's passing us.
The best launches, by far, are those at twilight. Sadly, those are very rare. I vividly remember an MX test right at sunset. It was especially spectacular because all stages were solid fueled and produce smoky plumes even in space.
Second best are those in the early morning with the sun behind me glinting off the launch vehicle. On one Titan II launch I could easily see the three pieces of the payload fairing after it was jettisoned. This surprised me as I thought all payload fairings were in two pieces.
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i was lucky enough to see a Delta launch in 2009. I had visited the KSC and toured the old launch pads. I remember the feeling a certain level of despair when standing under the launchpad where Grissom, White and Chaffee lost their lives whilst in the distance the Delta was being prepped. In the 40 years since Apollo broke the bonds of Earth's gravity we have decided to only play on the porch that is LEO.
I had a sad. :-\
(https://scontent-a-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/44297_441527293280_3853790_n.jpg?oh=16a560fc7854d49674d138160bd40b8e&oe=54E4381A)
(https://scontent-a-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/v/t1.0-9/45099_441527258280_7877976_n.jpg?oh=5ddb57b8fccd84c8e1c43aa024a3baf9&oe=54D61CC3)
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/40998_441530148280_3624691_n.jpg?oh=ab6901a0bbe648c5214f394e1e9f7542&oe=54D89FEC&__gda__=1424198367_d0bca5a8f728ab17afe4472194542b0c)
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I've seen two launches, Apollo 17, which was a really impressive night launch, and a Scout launch from the West Coast. On both occasions I was with a group from the British Interplanetary Society.
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Gee, nobody's going to ask me about the obscure EE joke? ;-)
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Gee, nobody's going to ask me about the obscure EE joke? ;-)
No, we all already know it.. but go on, post it - I'm sure a newbie will be along soon.. :)
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Gee, nobody's going to ask me about the obscure EE joke? ;-)
That's because nobody like jokes about current events.
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Is saw a shuttle launch from Disney World, because I couldn't persuade my friends to spend a day of spring break hanging out at the KSC. The most amazing part was that I got a rental car at the Orlando Airport that day.
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Gee, nobody's going to ask me about the obscure EE joke? ;-)
That's because nobody like jokes about current events.
Hah. Good one.
Okay, here goes. A team is investigating the crash of a charter airplane carrying a group of Polish tourists on a sightseeing trip over western Europe. (No, this is not actually a Polish joke, but the nationality is still important to the joke. Just read on...)
They play back the voice and flight data recorders. It went like this:
"And if you look out the left side, you'll see the Eiffel Tower".
As the passengers all move to the side, the flight data recorder indicates a little rolling motion but it soon damps out.
"Now to your left you will see the English Channel, and beyond that, the White Cliffs of Dover".
Again, the plane rolls a little but quickly stabilizes.
"Now look to the right and you'll see the city of Berlin"
This time the plane rolls violently and goes out of control.
One investigator says "Ah ha, I know exactly what happened. You can't have all your poles on the right side of the plane!"
Now how many people got that?
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I had a problem within the software on that one?
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Not exactly. The joke predates computers (i.e., it's really old).
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My Google-fu seems to indicate it has something to do with maintaining a stable system in a signal processing circuit? If the poles are on the right side of the s-plane, the system isn't stable?
Not that I really understand what that all means :-[
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Correct! The same math is used to analyze the stability of control systems and of electronic filters.
Like I said, it was an old joke...
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Saw the launch of Columbia (STS78) 20 june 1996 from the astronaut hall of fame.
Or should i say ecperienced it. Felt the ignition, and the crowds reaction was marvellous. An experience to remember.
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...One investigator says "Ah ha, I know exactly what happened. You can't have all your poles on the right side of the plane!"
Now how many people got that?
Don't make eye contact with him, folks; he's unstable.
ETA: Darn you to heck, BazBear!
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...One investigator says "Ah ha, I know exactly what happened. You can't have all your poles on the right side of the plane!"
Now how many people got that?
Don't make eye contact with him, folks; he's unstable.
ETA: Darn you to heck, BazBear!
MuuHaHaHuuuHaHa (http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/images/smilies/devilsmilies/biggrin.gif)
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One of our guys at KSC took a couple of pictures of the Orion stack on its way to LC 37 for its rendezvous with the Delta IV Heavy. It's been stacked on the booster; 3 weeks to EFT-1.
ETA: I was on a conference call to KSC this morning and overheard the PA, "Attention all stations; all hands supporting Orion initial power-up report to Firing Room 1 at 1100 hours." Good stuff.
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You know, it looks a little like a terminal (low wattage) VOR...